Jacksonville-based Availity appointed Dr. Hannah Alphs Jackson as its first chief medical officer, a position created to navigate AI and real-time data in clinical networks.
Availity describes itself as the nation’s largest health information network that allows payers and providers to exchange clinical, administrative and financial data.
“With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation,” the company says on availity.com.
Availity said in a July 21 news release that it created the role of chief medical officer to ensure clinical expertise throughout the company’s strategy, innovation and customer solutions.
The company said in the release the chief medical officer role provides executive clinical leadership across areas such as payer-provider collaboration, administrative simplification, clinical data exchange, utilization management and AI-enabled workflows.
Jackson’s LinkedIn profile shows she received a medical degree in 2008 from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
She spent the past almost five years with Health Care Service Corp. in Chicago, most recently as vice president and chief medical officer of enterprise healthcare management.
Jackson was responsible for supporting execution of HCSC’s clinical platform and clinical AI transformation, including platform modernization and creating an informatics division to support use of technology across HCSC’s clinical business processes.
Before Health Care Service Corp., Jackson spent more than nine years at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.
Her last role there was director of Northwestern’s Managed Care Value Based Care and Performance Based Reimbursement portfolio, including managed care strategy and contracting for its clinically integrated network, Northwestern Medicine Physician Network
“Dr. Jackson brings a rare combination of clinical expertise, provider perspective, payer experience and strategic vision,” said Availity CEO Russ Thomas in the release.
“As healthcare continues to evolve, it’s critical that we have strong clinical leadership guiding how we integrate automation and AI capabilities to support the entire healthcare system – and ultimately improve the entire experience.”
As part of the executive leadership team, Jackson will be responsible for ensuring all solutions continue to support providers, health plans and patients through clinically informed, data-driven innovation.
“Availity is known for simplifying healthcare at scale by bringing clinical insight, data and technology together to strengthen collaboration across the industry,” Jackson said in the release.
“Healthcare is incredibly complex, and meaningful progress requires everyone to work together,” she said.
Availity launched in 2001. It operates in the Town Center One building near St. Johns Town Center.